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Jul 27, 2026
This week’s themeMisleading words This week’s words 
Piety, before 1626
Artist unknown Previous week’s theme Words with hidden animals Wordsmith Games
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargThis week, don’t trust the prefix. The front of a word isn’t always upfront. Anti-, mis-, with-, de-, and dis- seem to announce what follows; instead, they lead us toward five plausible, and wrong, first impressions. Language is messy, history is long, and etymology rarely travels light. These words come carrying centuries of baggage, none of it declared at customs. Read the label, then read the fine print. The prefixes aren’t exactly lying; history has simply given them ample plausible deniability. The devil, as always, is in the derivation. antipelargy
PRONUNCIATION:
(an-ti-peh-LAR-jee)
MEANING:
noun: The love and care children return to their parents; more broadly, any requital or mutual kindness.
ETYMOLOGY:
Via French antipelargie or Latin antipelargia, ultimately from Greek
anti- (in return) + pelargos (stork). Greek and Roman writers claimed
that young storks fed their aged parents, making the stork an emblem
of filial devotion. Earliest documented English use: 1649.
NOTES:
Antipelargy is not anti- anything, at least not in the usual
“against” sense. If you insist, you could say it is
anti-neglecting-your-parents. To see why, we have to go to the storks. They bring us babies, but their mythical job description did not stop there. Ancient Greeks credited them with elder care: young storks were said to feed their aged parents. Later tradition even had them carry the old birds about. No Uber; they had to wing it. So, what is anti- doing here? Greek anti- has senses besides “against”: it can also mean “in return” or “in exchange.” Compare antiphony, in which singers or choirs answer one another. They are not feuding; they are simply taking turns. USAGE:
“The stage directions following this speech show Cuba elevating the
restored father to the honorable place of the throne while the
brothers clasp hands, along with a comment praising ‘noble piety’,
the antipelargy of the virtuous family.” Andrew S. Keener; Japan Dramas and Shakespeare at St. Omers English Jesuit College; Renaissance Quarterly (Cambridge, UK); Fall 2021. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It was my shame, and now it is my boast, That I have loved you rather more
than most. -Hilaire Belloc, writer and poet (27 Jul 1870-1953)
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